It started as a relaxing day. With a lunch together and going to the airport. Everything fine so far. The plane left at 18 o’clock. But after two thirds of the way, we got the message that Beijing is closed because of bad weather and we go back to Xian. Great.. I planned a buffer of 5 hours to be sure to get the plane to Europe. Back in Xian, I went to the counter and asked what to do. They changed my flight to one at 23 o’clock. However, no way that I would get my flight at 1 o’clock. I changed my Air France flight to 9 o’clock, which worked via roaming on the phone after about 15 tries and cost 150 euro. Of course the cabin crew strike in France was happening as well, which made it impossible to change anything by phone in time. At least I got online support from Meng. Next going through security for the plane to Beijing again. This plane was delayed as well. So I waited until half past 12 with no info in English. Finally boarding again and arrivel at 2:30. Then picking up luggage and finding out what happens next. The system in Beijing was pretty annoying. I had to wait in the entrance hall until 6 o’clock because the international terminal won’t open until then. These were long three hours.. A coffee and two Red Bulls later, I got support from Meng who happened to be awake. So we were chatting until the terminal finally opened. That helped a lot to pass the time (great thanks for this!). Check in and passport controll were done quickly. Now it was less than two hours until boarding. The sun was shining again, awake for 22 hours. Then finally boarding the Boeing 777 and a seat I won’t have to leave for 11 hours. I still didn’t know why I got a free premium economy seat but it was relaxing in the almost empty premium compartment. The seats were not very comfortable though. The one I had in the 747 on the other direction was less fancy but much more comfortable. Air France had the most French safety instructions, good food and friendly personal. I didn’t sleep so much on the flight but better than nothing, watched three movies. The connection to Düsseldorf was on time despite the strike. But the transfer was chaotic as always at the Paris airport. I needed to pass two security checks, take a train, a bus and walk through a number of buildings until finally reaching the correct terminal. Then the last short flight to Düsseldorf. There I got picked up by my parents and the trip was finally over.

From Xian to Düsseldorf in 32 hours with maybe 3 or 4 hours of bad sleep. It was pretty tough but could have been worse.

So, after more than three weeks, I made it back to Germany and the China tour came to an end. It was an impressive and almost entirely positive experience. It’s good to have some time now to digest all the new impressions before going back to work.

Nothing interesting happened, except that Montezumas revenge hit me hard (or what is it called in China? Sun Tzu’s revenge?). So I spent the day in bed, hoping that the diarrhea will stop sometime. It did in the evening. But then, I got a fever in the night. Luckily the fever was gone again in the morning, when I woke up in a puddle of sweat. I felt pretty good, considering the last day. So we first had a small lunch and went to the Shaanxi history museum. It provided a good overview over the history of the region as the (temporary) capital province of China. The only problem was that there were much too much people in there. Every room was crowded and noisy, which made it difficult to take your time for the exhibition. But still good to get out of the hotel again.

In the evening, we went for dinner with Meng’s friends. It was a good dinner and also the last one for me in China. Tomorrow, it is time to say goodbye to this fascinating and sometimes crazy country.

Finally some good sleep again. And a luxury day as well. We met our guide, professor Li, at 11 o’clock. A really nice guy, working together with professor Ji. We also got a personal driver for today. What a luxury. First stop of the day was a restaurant for a huge lunch with local food. Great stuff and very different again from the food in Xining.

Then we drove to the terracotta army museum, which was about one hour away from the center. This day was very hot. Almost 40 degrees and the sunshine almost hurt on the skin. The main hall of the terracotta army was as hot as outside but without the wind. I probably lost half a liter of sweat within 20 minutes. But pretty amazing to see the terracotta warriors.

All of them got destroyed just 4 years after the emperor’s death, when a general who didn’t really like the emperor set fire to the monument. So all the warriors on the picture were put together again and in fact, most of them are still work in progress.

The first part of a terracotta head was just discovered in the 1970s. Not so long ago. A large part of the monument will remain untouched until they have better technology to preserve it. A respectable decision.

Parts of the museum were completely overcrowded and a bit too many souvenir stores maybe. But still great to have seen it.

Then we went back to town and visited the city wall. It started to rain so we went to a cafe and had a coffee. We had an long and interesting talk about history, which Li was an expert in.

The rain was getting stronger, so we decided to get back. Our driver picked us up and the rain turned into a thunderstorm. The water was accumulating on the streets and soon we got stuck. We were standing in a queue in crazy rain and the water level kept rising. Almost worrisome. The waves were splashing against the floor of the car but it stayed just below the doors.

Good that we brought leftovers from lunch because we got stuck for more than two hours. Finally, the water level started to decrease again and we dared to drive through the lake. But only to get stuck into traffic again. The whole city was chaotic and it took another three hours to get back to the hotel.

The guys here in China are great people. Yesterday’s tour and then the tour today were priceless memories. I hope I can return the favors one day.

I woke up in the middle of the night with diarrhea. After a while, I took some Imodium pills and was able to sleep again. Pretty weird this time, I didn’t eat anything strange this day.

I felt a bit sick in the morning but at least the diarrhea was over. A small breakfast and we needed to leave for the airport. The traffic was dense and we just made it in time. Flight time from Xining to Xian was 1.5 hours. One of the annoying rules here were that you still can’t use any electronic devices at take off and landing. And for some reason, these easily take 30 minutes each. At least the view on the mountains was nice most of the time.

We got picked up at the airport by professors Ji from the meeting. A very friendly guy who lived in Xian. We concluded to meet later for dinner as well.

It was much warmer than Xining but not as humid as the coastal cities at least. When arriving at the hotel, they couldn’t accept me because they didn’t have a license to accommodate foreigners. What a strange system.. We waited for Meng’s friends, who lived close by and they knew another hotel which we tried and that one had the license, but more expensive of course.

After moving in, I could finally sleep for an hour, which helped a lot.

Later we met Ji and his son and he drove us to the center, where we visited the fancy Tang dynasty Park.

The park was built about 20 years ago in memory of the Tang dynasty (approx. 7th to 9th century), which ruled in Xian as their capital and let China into a golden age.

Afterwards, we tried to find a restaurant. The traffic was crazy even late in the evening. We needed two hours for 10km. In the end, we had some nice grilled meat spits and sweet porridge made from rice and nuts in the “muslim street”. One of the famous food streets in Xian.

And afterwards, finally sleep. My stomach was alright again, but I still felt a bit sick. Hopefully I am back to normal tomorrow.

Another night of bad sleep. But today was going to be relaxing anyway. I used the morning to read news and drinking a lot of coffee (finally). Then Meng and me went for lunch at a local noodle restaurant.

Then walked over to the Tibetan Medical Museum and visited a small and free exhibition.

It was alright but not much information was available in English. This didn’t take too long and we decided to go to the zoo and called an uber taxi.

The zoo was pretty nice and provided a good view over the city as well.

When I was sitting on a bench, suddenly some random people (probably from some ethnic minority) sat next to me and took turns in taking pictures with me. That was a new level, they didn’t even ask anymore. It’s probably a rare event when a Homo germanicus is spotted in the zoo.

It was another very warm day, so we bought a water melon on the way back.

Early day.. Alarm at 6:30, a quick breakfast and boarding the bus. Quite a lot of students also joined the tour to the aquaculture facilities. Some also brought their children. Including the presenters from yesterday, we were more than 35 people.

We spent a lot of time in the bus, so I had time to write something about Xining and Qinghai. This area was very different to the coastal cities. Cooler climate, clean air and low humidity gave it a very pleasant climate in the summer months. The population was multi-ethical with a high muslim proportion. I heard that more than 60 different ethical group live in the region. The food was also different and the muslim influence was pretty obvious in this regard. Pork dishes were replaced by lamb and yak dishes. The people here were confident to have one of the best cuisines in China. Because of the altitude of more than 2000m, it was popular among athletes for training camps as well.

We drove through an impressive highland area until we arrived at the aquaculture lake after three hours.

The lake was kind of the source of the yellow river and located in a very remote area.

After arrival, we went to a boat, which brought us to one of the big fish farms in the lake.

They were rearing triploid rainbow trout here and the whole facility was bought from Norway. The lake had an average temperature of 10 degrees Celsius and the water originated of rain and melting water. There were several farms in the lake and according to the information I got, the trout grows to at least 3kg and up to 5kg. There were well boats leaving every day with fish downstream on the river. Then the fish gets processed and sent to cities in China within 24 hours. An impressive production line in this area.

Back in the local village, we got lunch from the manager of the farm, a very dedicated and warm hearted guy. We had a couple of vodka together yesterday already.

The lunch was great and of course, mostly fish dishes.

I also had the chance to try the “thousand years egg”. Eggs which were covered with clay and stored like this for a long time. They turn to a strange black-green color and honestly, look pretty much rotten. But they taste just like freshly boiled eggs. After trying, I can’t say anything bad about them.

Then back into the bus and another two hours, where I finally managed to sleep a bit.

When I woke up, we reached the biggest lake in China, or actually only a smaller lake just in front of the big one.

The actual huge lake with salty and alkaline water was a bit further. We didn’t get close, so I only got this picture.

We had some more photo stops on the way in the impressive landscape.

The local ethnic groups sold quad racing and sand sledding on the side of the road.

Endless roads on the plateau.

Then we drove back to Xining.

We arrived at 19:30 after a long day in the bus. Last point on the schedule today was dinner. We went to a restaurant, serving local food. Most dishes were very good. They use a different kind of spice mix here and more fat. What I couldn’t eat was sheep stomach soup. I still can’t stand inner organs of any kind anyway but this soup was hardcore. The tea was very nice though, mixed with spices and fruits. You drink from the same pot, refilling with hot water throughout the dinner:

I was in bed at 23 o’clock and really done. Tomorrow will be an relaxing day again, finally.

I woke up with a hangover, of course.. But actually not too bad considering the amount of vodka yesterday evening.

I went to breakfast at 8. I was lucky enough that the waiters found some instant coffee power for me. At 8:30, our whole group from the hotel, about 10 people, drove to the Qinghai University.

We had a pretty big conference room for about 20 experts (professors, researchers etc.) and about 20 students. I was the only non-chinese here.

I had the second talk of the day and everything went fine. I presented two topics in about 45 minutes: firstly, what Nofima is, what we work on and why aquaculture research is important. Secondly, a presentation of a recent aerobic training study of young salmon. I think they were pretty interested in the topic and I got a couple of good questions. I am going to present the same project in Edinburgh in September on an aquaculture conference, so this was good training as well.

Afterwards, we went on with more presentations (in Chinese, I got translations some times). At least I could see what people are working on here.

Then we had lunch, which was pretty different to a normal mensa. We got our own VIP room again for the presenters and loads of great local food. We finished maybe a third of it.. Right after lunch, we went by car to the grass carp research facilities and got a quick tour.

It was very informative to see the local recirculation facilities for carp breeding. Carp is an important part of the local fauna and they breed it for aquaculture but also for balancing the fish amounts in the lakes.

Then back to the conference room and some more presentations until 17 o’clock. Then soon to the next dinner. A different menu than yesterday and lots of great dishes to try. It was not as wild as yesterday but still lots of vodka and people walked around to cheer with me pretty much all the time. Even though, communication was not always easy, I felt very welcomed here and had lots of good chats. I think I stayed below the 20 vodka shots threshold today at least.

The dinner went on until 23 o’clock, then finally a shower and bed time.

Even though pretty exhausting, I think the last days were absolutely worth the effort. It was a win-win situation. The conference got an international speaker without the need to invest too much. For the price of two vacation days, I got loads of experiences and a very nice hotel during my stay here. And of course, I could promote Nofima. Ah yes, and it was nice to be called “Professor Gerrit” for once.

Tomorrow we will visit the local aquaculture facilities. I think this will be very interesting but unfortunately I have to get up at 6:30. Not really vacation right now but it’s worth it.

I slept pretty bad last night so I set the alarm later and later. In the end I got up at 10. Breakfast was closed already, I just ate some cake leftovers from yesterday’s travel food and started to work on my presentation for tomorrow.

At noon, I got picked up by Rui and Meng and we went to a sushi place for lunch.

Very nice sushi:

Afterwards they drove me back to the hotel and I went on working on my talk.

In the evening, we had another feast. Yesterday was just the warm up. Look at this:

Great food as yesterday but more different dishes. But who said the Chinese didn’t drink much?! Today was completely crazy. They went around with vodka shots and you could choose if you take 2, 4 or 6. When asking for two, your got convinced to take at least four. I didn’t know any more how many I had, but I was well beyond 20 at least (luckily, the glasses were only half filled later on). Impressive how much they can drink. Some guys couldn’t walk straight any more. And tomorrow, we will start at 8:00..

They explained to me that first you make friends and then you talk about science. At midnight, we ended the evening and some guys finished their 100ml vodka carafes at the last toast. The whole evening was an impressive experience. And even I didn’t understand much, they were all very friendly people. Enough for today, I need some sleep.

Another transfer day. These became the most relaxing days of the trip. Sleeping long, packaging, sitting in the train or plane and finding the next hotel is all we did most of the time.

Today was the first transfer by plane. We took the bus to the center and found a taxi there, which was cheaper because it needed to go to the airport anyway.

Security was more strict in general. The first check for explosives took place at the entrance of the airport. Then we had lunch at a Chinese fast food chain restaurant: rice, meat in sauce, fish cakes, bone soup and a small moon cake (made of lotus seed flower) with a salty egg yolk in the center. I started to get used to this kind of food.

Then we checked-in and passed the next security check, where they looked at every electronic device and especially batteries. Everybody was checked thoroughly by metal detector as well.

In the plane, all electronic devices had to be switched off at start and landing and cell phones all the time, flight mode didn’t matter. Much stricter than in Europe.

The flight was pretty turbulent and took three hours (and we just crossed half of the country!). At least we had some impressive landscapes (which I couldn’t take pictures off unfortunately). The landscape changed rapidly from the green and humid coast to much dryer and rocky land in the center of China, a 2000 meters high highland. Most mountains were shaped in terraces and there were roads everywhere. Looked like a great place for cycling.. After landing, it was cooler as well, which was a very welcomed change.

First impression of Xining: a big city in the steppe, surrounded by red mountains. We got picked up at the airport and drove to the center. It was a totally different environment here. My hotel was a four star hotel, it was pre-booked by the University for me. And here started the really impressive part of the day. I checked in, went to my room to change clothes and went down for dinner. The group of professors and researchers was awaiting us in a our own dining room. We were 12 people here and I was welcomed by the main professor, seated next to him and we started the feast. The food was great, too much to describe here. Seated at a round table with an endless amounts of food. The main experience of the evening was the friendliness of the people. Germany is very respected in China and we talked a lot about the good relationship between our countries. We also finished a couple of bottles of fine vodka, so while writing this, I was a bit drunk.. I had to drink with everybody, sometimes several times. I forgot to take pictures this time but it was a great experience already. This unexpected and very warm welcome was a great start to the time in Xining.

We got up early, had breakfast at the hotel and took a bus to a park, west of Hangzhou. This bus ride took more than two hours through the traffic and we ended up just about 10km away from our hotel. It was a very hot day again.

The park was the Xixi Wetland Park. A large area, which was a mix of different park styles. There were shops with interesting food in the center, a resort at one end and a botanical garden at the other. There was also an old villa of an famous poet and teacher of an emperor and a bird resort. The different areas were arranged in a pretty chaotic way. We needed to backtrack several times to see most of it. The villa was elegant and nice to visit.

The bird resort was also nice but you needed binoculars or a good camera and some patients to make the best out of it. We didn’t have any of this today.

Behind the park was the National Wetland Museum. When we arrived there, it was half an hour before closing time. But it was for free, so we took a quick look at least. We didn’t learn much in the short time and it seemed to be mainly for children.

We walked quite a lot today, so we were tired and decided to take an uber taxi back to the center this time.

Modern times in China: some restaurants here (like the one we chose) were so popular that you had to draw a number and wait for an empty table. But while waiting you can browse the menu per app. When you are at the table, you scan the QR-code at the table and soon you will get your food. And there is no tipping anywhere in this country. This makes it easier for the first-time tourist. The disadvantage is that service is quite different to what we are used to in Europe. Most employees are pretty grumpy, even rude sometimes. However, foreigners usually get special treatment, as long as you can communicate.

The food today was great once more.

Spicy squid, shrimps, pig ears, fried duck, marinated tofu skin, a pancake and a crispy rice dome. A new way for me to eat shrimps was to just remove head and tail and eat the rest with the remaining shell and legs. Sounds weird but was pretty good. However, this probably depends on the preparation or cooking technique.

The time in Hangzhou is almost over. Tomorrow is the next transfer day to Xining.